One-Liter EcoBoost Formula Ford Schools Supercars at the Ring

What's faster around the Nurburgring, a one-liter racecar or a six-figure supercar?

Having won the International Engine of the Year award, there's little doubt that Ford has a winner on its hands with its new 1.0-liter EcoBoost engine. But the Blue Oval automaker isn't about to leave it to a jury to measure its success. Ford has a long history in motor racing, so to prove the mettle of its new flyweight three-cylinder powerplant, it put it into a formula racing car, tuned it for optimal performance, and took it to the Nurburgring.

The racing car in question is a Formula Ford single-seater, which usually isn't street-legal, but the Ford team modified it to roadgoing specification so that it could be counted on the leaderboard. In the process, the team at Ford's European headquarters in Cologne, Germany, swapped the 180-horsepower 1.6-liter four usually found in the latest Formula Fords for a retuned 205hp 1.0-liter EcoBoost three-banger. The result was a whopping 7-minutes, 22-second lap time around the Nurburgring. To put that into context, that places it ahead of the Ferrari Enzo, Lamborghini Aventador and Pagani Zonda.

Ford also estimates the custom single-seater is capable of a sub-four-second 0-60 time and a 159mph top speed, while capable of delivering an astounding 118 mpg at 35 mph or 57 at 75 mph. Not so much while setting a flying lap time at the Ring, though.